Behind the Shield
by GeeEs
Summary: It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.
1. Fury's Very Bad Day

**Title: **Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

**Summary:** It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

**Characters:** Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

**Rating:** T for Fury's language, lots of it

**Disclaimer:** Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Universe) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

**PLEASE READ:**

This story is essentially a fanfiction of Mortem Cantor, which is an Avengers/Harry Potter crossover fanfiction. This means that this story may or may not be Mortem Cantor compliant, just like fanfictions are not always canon-compliant. Also, if you haven't read Mortem Cantor, this story may not make much sense, so please read that story first: ffnet/s/8240089/1/Mortem-Cantor

M.C. Chapter references are provided based on chapter names, not Fanfiction's automatic chapter numbering system.

ooo

**Chapter 1: Fury's Very Bad Day**

[Backstory immediately prior to Mortem Cantor Chapter 1]

The dustup in New Mexico was bad enough to read on paper. It got worse when Agents Barton and Coulson returned to Headquarters, and Fury had to listen to all the details that didn't make it into the brief preliminary report. No. Thor wasn't some delusional steroid-enhanced druggie. Thor was Thor the Norse God, Crown Prince of Asgard. And Asgard had magic, military strength, and the ability to transport themselves anywhere on Earth whenever they damn well pleased (or would once the bridge was fixed). And just to fuck with him, Asgard's guardian, Heimdall, was described as "all-seeing" and "all-hearing". It was a Bad Day.

Some days, he wakes up (assuming he went to sleep in the first place) to find there's a credible and imminent threat against the Heads of State of several nations. Other days someone sets off a chemical weapon and S.H.I.E.L.D. has to track them down before they're recruited by one of any number of terrorist organizations. Or maybe there are reports on a new mutant/superhuman making trouble in Detroit, or a group of them in Zagreb, or in Hong Kong. Or maybe they find another sleeper agent or infiltrator (Most of them were Hydra. Fury would love to know how a dead agency could still have such heavy recruitment. And whether they'd bothered to infiltrate anyone else given the resources they seemed to be throwing at S.H.I.E.L.D.). Or maybe Stark holds another fucking press conference (Fury makes sure to watch every single one of the damn things _live_ after the SI's-out-of-the-weapons-business and I-am-Iron-Man bombshells. He also takes aspirin and Motrin beforehand just in case). Or maybe an unmovable object lands in the New Mexico desert.

All of those are Good Days. Maybe the safety of a city or a country or the entire world is threatened. Maybe the current world order is under attack. Or maybe it's just some random oddity that requires a thorough investigation. But these types of threats are familiar. Similar enough to previous occurrences such that S.H.I.E.L.D. has standard procedures that have been drafted and reviewed and codified and edited and implemented (and revised and released and revised and released) until the whole organization moves like slick grease (comparatively). They have the experience and expertise to handle these types of situations. Days like these are what S.H.I.E.L.D. was created to handle.

But today was a Bad Day, when all of their preparations are in vain because this particular situation was unanticipated and unprecedented. One of the Princes of Asgard had decided to send a giant robot to murder his brother on Earth's soil. The closest they had to a scripted procedure for this was 'SSP2007-01-2b: Procedures for handling contact with hostile NBEs', a joke someone had plastered the walls with after one of the Transformers movies came out.

(Fury had had to deny Coulson's request to implement said protocol on Ironman after the botched news conference (Coulson's record now included a failed coverup mission, unfortunately). And then he'd had to use Coulson's almost debilitating hero-worship to keep the agent from deep-freezing Stark in his own tower _anyway_ against orders (_"Captain America is frozen somewhere in the Arctic. Do you want Stark to share /anything/ in common with the hero?"_) until the man finally calmed down and agreed to return the liquid nitrogen... and the cryogenic freezer... and call Barton off... Coulson was frighteningly efficient. Most days Fury regretted not letting Coulson finish. Stark was just _that_ irritating and Coulson was always utterly unsympathetic when Fury deigned to complain.)

Phase 1 for dealing with this clusterfuck of a Bad Day involved employing and funding Dr. Jane Foster and generally keeping the woman happy and safe. She was, after all, Thor's love interest. (Assuming the spoilt foreign prince wasn't just looking for a fling.) Asgardians apparently resolved personal disputes by sending giant death robots to kill each other. Fury didn't want to know what Thor would do if something happened to Foster while he was away. He especially didn't want to know what would happen if Foster fell in love with someone else. He just Did Not Need that shit.

Funding her research should keep her focused and busy. Foster was the type of scientist who wasn't interested in anything else while she was immersed in her science project. Anything else included essentials like eating and sleeping. Her assistant could stay (and remind her to eat and sleep), but her male coworker would have to be separated, just in case. Even if he was friends with Thor. Even if his personality, looks, everything, was diametrically opposed to what Foster apparently wanted in a man. Something else would be found for Selvig. (Fury would not allow Earth to be destroyed by some alien in a jealous rage. It wasn't fucking happening.)

The silver lining was that Foster's research wasn't just some insignificant pet science project. S.H.I.E.L.D. desperately needed to learn how Asgard's bifrost bridge worked. How to create one in order to meet Asgard on more equal terms. And, more importantly, how to detect a forming bridge, how to block a bridge from forming, and how to destroy a created bridge. Dr. Foster (and Dr. Selvig) were the _only_ scientists who'd even started looking into the matter, nevermind the only ones who had made any kind of progress. Two birds, one exploding arrow. Just the way Fury liked it.

Phase 2 was figuring out how to defend against Asgard if it turned out that they were not friendly. New Mexico had shown them that Asgard was in the middle of a deadly internal power struggle. And Earth might just be drawn into it. (Who knew what the political ramifications would have been if the Crown Prince of Asgard had been assassinated on _their_ soil even if Earth hadn't been informed he was here.) Thor might be friendly. Loki was not. Odin was an unknown quantity, assumed unfriendly. And who knew which one of them would be in charge when the bridge reconnected?

The best weapons (and armor) manufacturer Earth had was Tony Stark. The man was a menace. But talented. _Very_ talented. Unfortunately, Stark was a) out of the weapons business, b) dying and then recovering from almost dying (there was nothing quite like watching Coulson and Romanova squabble like children over who got to stab Stark with a hypodermic needle), and c) refusing to talk to S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson was working on re-establishing communications by going through Potts. In the meanwhile, he supposed he knew what he'd give Dr. Eric Selvig to work on.

Fury's Bad Day, on the other hand, had just gotten worse. Wouldn't you know it? Last night's all-nighter had prevented him from restocking his personal stash of coffee. So now he had two choices. Well three, but going without coffee wasn't an option. Not after _last time_. So, either choke down the watered-down crap the cafeteria served, or go out to grab a cup. Screw it, he needed caffeine. "Coulson, get the scientists settled. Barton, with me."


	2. Coffee Run

**Title: **Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

**Summary:** It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

**Characters:** Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

**Rating:** T for Fury's language, lots of it

**Disclaimer:** Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Universe) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

ooo

**Chapter 2: Coffee Run**

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapter 1]

At least he hadn't expected today to go smoothly, Nick thought irritated as he stood in the massive line for Sasha's bake 'n' break. This wasn't his usual coffee bar. (He didn't actually _have_ a usual coffee bar.) Unfortunately, some jerk pulled the fire alarm at the local Starbucks across the street. False alarm or not, the flashing lights and sirens (which the college kids running the chain still hadn't figured out how to turn off) threatened to turn his budding headache into a migraine. Which he Did Not Need right now.

'Evans', as the manager had called him, was interesting for a barista. The head of S.H.I.E.L.D. usually got a stronger reaction from civilians over his eyepatch. More importantly, the kid was packing. But Evans' interactions with his coworkers and boss suggested a long-standing familiarity built up over months at the least, so he wasn't some plant assassin for the day. Still a potential assassin, mind, but not likely there for him. Even if the Starbucks fire alarm was staged, no one knew Fury would go out for coffee today. (It's not paranoia.) "Strong black, no sugar or milk. Double shot."

The other oddity was the thin scar on Evans' forehead. The Sowilo symbol-lightning. It wouldn't even register as odd on a Good Day. But after New Mexico. Well. Lightning was supposed to precede Thunder. Except when they arrived at the same time. After paying close attention to the way 'Harry', as his nametag proclaimed, put together his coffee (there were no attempts to slip something in-Fury was almost disappointed), he accepted the cup and left. Barton followed him out. "Anything?"

"No sir." No threats from the crowd or outside. "The barista noticed me."

"Hm. His name's Harry Evans. Have someone look into him when we get back." There was no way this barista had anything to do with the clusterfuck in New Mexico or with Thor. No, Fury had another reason for looking into the kid.

Evans seemed observant. He had good instincts. Young, physically fit, and might even know how to use the weapons he'd been carrying. The kid was exactly what they looked for in potential recruits for S.H.I.E.L.D. And if the background checks turned up irregularities (which wasn't all that uncommon among potential recruits). Well. Then they'd take a closer look. (It wasn't paranoia. They _were_ out to get him.)

"Yes sir."

When he first got involved in S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury had learned there were no such things as coincidences. Decades later, now Head of the agency, he knew that yes, there _really are_ coincidences. They're just rare. And you can't tell coincidences from enemy action until far too late. They'd just have to wait and see which one Evans was.

"The hell? I asked for the dossier of a barista. What the fuck is this, Barton?"

"Sir, Harry Evans the barista has two Ph.D. degrees."

"Then why the fuck is he working as a barista? Nevermind. How does a teenager have two Ph.D.s? And where's the rest of the file."

"That's the problem, sir. There's nothing else. He just suddenly appears three years ago. No birth certificate, no immigration papers, no driver's license, nothing. We've got financials going back three years. He's got an apartment with a $20,000 balance on the mortgage, $50,000 in student loans, a bank account, a couple credit cards. He's been working at that coffee shop for the past two years... Oh, and you're going to love this, sir, one of his thesis papers is on a possible wormhole between here and Asgard."

What a coincidence.

"Have an invitation delivered. I have a few questions to ask Dr. Evans."


	3. Deeper into the Wormhole

**Title: **Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

**Summary:** It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

**Characters:** Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

**Rating:** T for Fury's language, lots of it

**Disclaimer:** Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Universe) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

ooo

**Chapter 3: ****Deeper into the wormhole**

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapter 3]

Evans was the worst liar Fury had ever met. Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration. He was okay for a civilian... maybe. Unfortunately for the kid, Fury was used to reading blank walls and perfect facades like Coulson and Hill and Romanova.

It looked like he wouldn't be having Agent Barton train Evans to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent after all. The conditions surrounding Evans' double PhD degrees were suspicious as hell (Why hadn't a 20-year-old-double-doctorate candidate appeared on anyone's radar before now? If he had contacts, why didn't he already have a job in astrophysics or chemistry?), but it sounded like Evans might actually have the knowledge to back them up. He certainly had the enthusiasm. And they needed more astrophysists. It'd be a while, if ever, before he could be trusted to work with Dr. Foster on the bridge work, or with Dr. Selvig on the Tesseract. But at least he could free up their other scientists to work on the more sensitive research. And in the meanwhile, Fury had a few new avenues to investigate Evans' background.

ooo

"Anything turn up in Great Britain?"

"No, sir. He's not in the citizenship records. None of the schools in Surrey had a student named Harry or Evans that matches his description. We've expanded the search. And we're still looking into physical matches under a different name."

"Hm. And Gringotts?"

"Doesn't exist, sir."

ooo

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapter 5]

"He used the GRR on himself."

As expected. Fury hadn't wanted to tip his hand by ordering blood tests and other scans. That kind of stuff tended to spook people. But including the Gamma Radiation Reader in a standard tour by a fellow scientist... well... not one of the scientists they'd hired had passed on an opportunity to play with the detector. "Any reaction?"

"He came up clean except for the scar on his forehead. Very low level readings. Wouldn't have even shown up if we hadn't maxed out the gain on the detector. He claims it's from a chemical explosion when he was a kid from his scientist father."

Potential gamma radiation accident as a kid? Lovely.

ooo

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapter 7]

"Dr. Foster says he's working at the level she expects out of a new postdoctoral student. Gets along with people, carved out his own niche, doesn't need his hand held, but asks for help when he needs it." Evans hadn't been interviewed by their science department when Fury hired him, so it was good to know he was working out.

"Good. Anything else?"

"He hasn't found a cure, yet."

Fury frowned at Agent Hill, hearing something in her tone, "But?"

"He found a way to turn the Hulk purple."

_The fuck?_ "And I care why?"

"Applying the treatment would probably only have localized effects given the Hulk's size. It's well documented that Americans find the combination of green and purple disturbing but non-threatening. In fact 'Hulk' is more of a description than a name. If we need to push a softer image for Hulk to the public, we could-"

"Denied." Fury wrenched his imagination away from visions of a dancing singing purple and green monstrosity. Barney the Hulk, indeed. Why did all his top agents enjoy messing with him? First Coulson with those damn recordings. Now this. "Anything else?" he demanded.

Hill didn't smile at his reaction, she was too good an agent for that. "Evans also hacked into the database. We let him into the Level 5 information."

The Level 5 information included their desire for Banner's assistance, but not the information about potential countermeasures and worse-case-scenarios. He wanted to emphasize to Evans that S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to work with super-humans and hide the part where they captured them and locked them in cells when they were threats. Not that it was likely that Evans was a super-human. The only suspicion Fury had was the lightning symbol right after the Norse God of Thunder... and Evans missing files... but they just didn't know. (It wasn't paranoia.) And now that he knew about it, gamma-radiation as a kid was definitely a predisposing condition.

It was unlikely a junior scientist would be able to solve the super soldier serum when everyone else so far had failed (oft-times spectacularly). But studying the problem should keep Evans busy until Fury knew what to do with him.

Fury nodded, dismissing Hill, "Keep watching him."


	4. Investigations

**Title: **Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

**Summary:** It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

**Characters:** Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

**Rating:** T for Fury's language, lots of it

**Disclaimer:** Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Universe) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

ooo

**Chapter 4: ****Investigations**

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapters 7-8]

It was a shame that assassin had thrown himself out the window before he could be interrogated. Fury'd love to know who was responsible for this latest attempt on his life. But if he was good enough to get as close as he had, then it was unlikely they'd be able to trace his client. He'd ordered the investigation anyway. It was less of a futile effort than investigating /all/ of the enemies Fury'd made over his years (and all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies, and everyone who might consider Fury or his organization an obstacle...).

In the meanwhile, Fury watched the multitude of monitors as they replayed the security footage of the last few hours at double-time. Nothing was unusual in Evans' behavior early in the day. The director raised an eyebrow at the way Evans quickly destroyed the slide with his blood, and made a mental note to have someone analyze Evans' blood under a microscope if they could manage without Evans' knowledge.

Evans suddenly freezes at time 11:29:13. Fury's meeting with his would-be assassin had been at 11:30—he'd have to replay the other footage later to get the exact timestamp. This might be precognition (he knew what was going to happen before it happened) or it might be extra-sensory (he noticed what was currently happening). Evans glances around the room, either seeing if anyone's paying attention to him or maybe looking for a threat in his immediate vicinity, then drops into what looks like a meditative state. When the scientist heads for the stairs, he's moving deliberately. He knows exactly where to go.

On the fourth floor, Evans pauses again to visually scan the people around him (whatever sense Evans has doesn't appear to be pin-point accurate), before zeroing in on Fury's office. Fury snorts as Evans realizes he's drawing attention in the walkway, and pretends to be on the phone. It's a good cover, but poorly implemented. For starters, he should have at least pretended to dial something. And waited a few moments for the other side to "connect" before he started talking. The close call assassination and rescue was humiliating enough. But anyone loitering near Fury's office (no matter how much they looked like they belonged there) should have drawn security /before/ Evans was able to burst in the door. A fortunate oversight in this case, but one would not be happening again.

The kid was also utterly lacking in ego. Fury made a point of calling Evans 'boy' from the very beginning and hadn't gotten anything more than mild annoyance in return. Even when Fury 'forgot' the Doctor title, Evans hadn't bothered to correct him. (Most young doctors were _very_ defensive of their shiny new title and any insinuations that they might not deserve it.) And then Evans had _apologized_ for **_disturbing him_** after bursting into the office to _save his life_. (_What the hell?!_) He didn't demand or ask for a reward and even declined a salary increase (he'd be getting one anyway). It didn't appear to be an attempt to hold a debt over Fury either (not that Fury would allow such a thing).

Just thinking about the contrast between Evans' reaction and the reaction he'd get from someone like _Stark_ made his temples throb. (He was never going to allow Stark to save his life. He'd choke to death on his own spit first. It'd be less humiliating.)

They still knew very little about Evans. They'd hired agents with sketchy backgrounds before, but usually there was at least some information. And S.H.I.E.L.D. was good at scraping together solid timelines and details from scattered bits. Dealing with a blank slate was disturbing.

A miraculous rescue was the kind of event that made Fury more suspicious, not less. And the kid really was a terrible liar. Just going to lunch? A godfather who taught him combat moves that needed to be practiced? The inconsistencies made him want to teach Evans how to lie properly, because this was just pathetic. (The kid _did_ know the entire facility was carpeted in surveillance cameras, right?)

Still, it was becoming less and less likely that Evans was a spy. Anyone working for one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enemies would have left Fury to die. The kid could still have his own agenda. Fury hadn't survived as long as he had by being satisfied with 'probably's and 'most likely's. So he'd give the boy enough rope to hang himself by, so to speak. The Tesseract was pretty much the holy grail of energy. And in the meanwhile, he'd have a couple of his agents take a closer look into Evans.

It _was_ interesting that Evans seemed to know the Tesseract existed but not its name—Evans' hacking hadn't gone anywhere near the Tesseract information. He might have heard some of the other scientists talk about it, but if that were the case, Evans should have already the name of the device. Scientists tended to use proper scientific terms and names rather than "big glowy cube" (except Drs. Penzias and Wilson who refused to call it anything but 'Allspark', the geeks).

Evans had also drawn a comparison between the Tesseract and the Force. When Fury took that and added in Evans' possible precognition during the assassination, the meditation, and the refusal of monetary compensation for his aid... maybe he was spending too much time reading reports from his sci-fi loving subordinates. Jedi, indeed.

ooo

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapters 9-10]

Coulson submitted a report on what he'd observed about Evans. Unfortunately, Evans had approached him immediately, calling him out on being new, so there wasn't much chance of getting closer or continuing observation without drawing suspicion. Coulson also reported that Evans rejected the claim that he was a genius in that typical socially-awkward nerd way (My IQ's _only_ 190 so I'm not _really_ a genius.)

Romonova had gotten a good deal more (and a public exhibition fight). She didn't have a plausible reason to be at the Tesseract facility, so she'd chosen to approach Evans on the city bus. And lucked out with the opportunity to 'rescue' him from a particular annoying passenger. Her report was as detailed as the one she'd submitted on Tony Stark. Details on his personality, mannerisms, physical condition (and an interesting tattoo), emotional condition (possible PTSD between the nightmares and his freeze-up midfight), and so on. Unfortunately, like his other top agents, she couldn't leave well enough alone.

"Also, there are rumors that he's your step-son."

"I don't even have a first wife." Clearly, he wasn't keeping his employees busy enough if they wasted time speculating about his personal life. _He_ certainly didn't have time for this. "Step-son?"

"He saved your life and got a top assignment shortly after joining S.H.I.E.L.D." Romanova had the gall to shrug. "Personally, I think it's because of the parrot."

The...! Fury glowered at the agent until she left. He /was not/ a fucking pirate. Fucking Stark. And he was /never/ going without coffee again.


	5. The Fork Proposal and The Spork Incident

**Title: **Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

**Summary:** It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

**Characters:** Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

**Rating:** T for Fury's language, lots of it

**Disclaimer:** Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Universe) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

ooo

**Chapter 5: The Fork Proposal and The Spork Incident**

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapters 9 and 11-and-a-half]

Sometime during his career, Fury had learned how to translate scientific gibberish into mostly understandable English. A vital skill that had served him well. And Evans' proposal for the Tesseract? Looked suspiciously like a bunch of science dressing up the desire to poke at the Tesseract the way children poke at electrical outlets with a fork. On the other hand, at least it wasn't another request to create sentient life out of cellphones and X-boxes. Sometimes, he hated that all of his scientists were sci-fi nerds. And that most of his agents were just as bad.

ooo

Writing up proposals to stick the Tesseract with a fork was one thing, Fury thought incredulously, actually carrying it out was entirely another. The footage of the subsequent explosion and Evans standing in the middle of it laughing like a loon played to the end, then looped back again. Did he mention that Evans was standing _in the middle of the blast radius_ and _didn't have so much as a scratch_?

Fury grimaced, unable keep up his usual facade in the face of this idiocy. No, he thought, Evans wasn't a spy. He probably couldn't manage a secret agenda without letting it slip either. Evans lacked subtlety. And he wasn't disciplined _at all_. Really. Revealing his ability to survive conditions that would kill anyone else because he wanted to poke at a MASSIVELY POWERFUL ALIEN ENERGY SOURCE with a _GODDAMN SPORK_? What the _FUCK_ did he _THINK_ would happen? (And how the hell did this kid survive to adulthood?) Evans was lucky S.H.I.E.L.D. _didn't_ capture and experiment on super-humans (as a first resort).

At this point, Fury was actually considering decreasing the threat level on Evans. Granted, surviving an explosion like that made him powerful. But he wasn't _dangerous_. Evans lacked the personality to cause damage. And he was being cooperative so far. He seemed content in where he was and what he had. Scientific knowledge and discovery were the only things that seemed to motivate the kid. (To the point of trying out dangerous experiments on himself with a fucking SPORK. _A GODDAMN FUCKING SPORK!_ This was not good for his blood pressure.) And while Evans tried ineffectively to hide his powers, he hadn't hesitated to use those abilities to save Fury's life, even at the expense of bring down suspicion on his head. (Or maybe the kid was just _that_ fucking naive.)

Evans might even be perfect for the Avengers Initiative. Ironman had weapons that were dangerous for any ally caught in the crossfire. The Hulk was a massive bruiser. Anyone on the team would have to be good enough to stay out of the way, or hardy enough to survive incidental damage. On the other hand, putting fork-in-electrical-outlet Evans and _Tony Stark_ on the same team seemed like a bad idea... oh well. No worse than hair-trigger-Banner and Stark on the same team. Handling them would be Coulson's problem.

Stark had been marked as only-a-consultant for the Avengers for two reasons. One, to take Stark down a peg or three. And two, to con Coulson into accepting the assignment as handler for the potential Avengers team under the mistaken impression that Stark would not be on it. (Fury was going to continue to abuse his agent's Captain-America-fanboy-tendencies until the man _stopped falling for it_. He was doing Coulson a favor, really. And _maybe_ Fury was still a little pissed about the video recording of him ordering Stark to "exit the donut". And pissed about that _other_ recording.)


	6. The Tesseract Incident

**Title: **Mortem Cantor: Behind the Shield

**Summary:** It was a good thing the new scientist, Dr. Harry Evans, was working out so well. Because nothing else was going Fury's way. And that was before Loki made off with the Tesseract and some of his people. Maybe AU to Mortem Cantor by Kyandua.

**Characters:** Nicholas Fury, Harry Potter

**Rating:** T for Fury's language, lots of it

**Disclaimer:** Merely borrowing the characters and plot lines. The Harry Potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (Avengers, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, etc) belong to Marvel. Mortem Cantor (excluding parts that belong to the Harry Potter or Marvel Cinematic Series) belongs to Kyandua. You'll also find occasional references to other movies, which belong to their respective owners.

ooo

**Chapter 6: The Tesseract Incident**

[Companion to Mortem Cantor Chapters 12 and 13]

"Dr. Evans isn't dead." was the first thing out of Agent Hill's mouth as she entered Fury's office for their hourly touch-base meeting. They'd had several since Loki'd stolen the Tesseract.

Evans' survival wasn't completely unexpected. Fury had seen Evans blasted away by Loki's staff. (Thank God Loki hadn't decided to enslave Evans instead. Losing Barton and Dr. Selvig was dangerous enough. But Evans looked deceptively young and was probably assumed to be unimportant by the Norse god. The only good thing to come out of that incident. Fury's survival didn't count because it meant he was stuck dealing with this Clusterfuck.) And he was pretty sure the scientist hadn't gotten out before the building was turned into a crater. If Evans could survive Tesseract-induced-electrocution, surviving the much-less-powerful-staff wasn't too much of a stretch. And apparently he couldn't be crushed either even when unconscious, which was a good sign for a potential teammate of the Hulk.

"Injuries?"

"A concussion. No other injuries. Not so much as a bruise." Odd that he could get a black eye from a punch, but not so much as a bruise from a fallen building. "And he went into shock. Apparently he burst into FBI Headquarters demanding to know where you were and what happened to everyone else, and passed out." Reckless. Announcing he'd survived something that should have killed him (again) and prioritizing the status of Fury and the others on the Tesseract project over his own health and safety. Fury would blame Evans' stupidity on the concussion, but the thwarted assassination and The Spork Incident (it deserved to be Capitalized) told him otherwise. Evans was just that crazy.

"Do we know how he got out?"

"No sir. The CCTV doesn't show him leaving the blast site. I have Agent Stratton tracing his steps to FBI HQ, but it looks like he was coming from somewhere in the city center instead."

"So you think he teleported?"

"It's a possibility, sir. Alternatively, if he had super-strength, he could have dug his way to the sewer system, which wouldn't explain how he kept himself dry and not reeking like the sewer. Intangibility's another more likely possibility. Or perhaps he has an ally who got him out."

"An ally as in another crazy superhuman we don't know about? You're a regular ray of sunshine, Hill." Fury didn't want to think about it. Ironman. Thor. Loki. Thor's Asgardian friends. Captain America. Evans. There were too many super-humans suddenly popping up this past year. "What's his current condition?"

"He's expected to wake up anytime. They stabilized his shock. It'll be a few days before he's completely recovered."

"I doubt a concussion will keep him down that long. I want you at the hospital. See if you can't get a blood sample before he wakes up, while you're at it. And don't spook him. You can check on the other wounded agents, too, while you're there."

"Sir, surely I would still be of more use here."

"If you insist, Agent Hill. I've got a videoconference with the World Security Council in half an hour. They're going to want an explanation of how the Tesseract was stolen and why several of our agents and scientists have been turned into Loki's puppets. Then after answering all their questions, I need to convince them to support my plans for dealing with the situation. You're more than welcome to join me. It shouldn't take longer than, oh say six, maybe eight, hours."

"...I'll be at the hospital, sir."

ooo

"What now, Agent Romanoff?"

"The other agents seem to believe Agent Hill is your second wife."

Fury would have been perfectly content to not know about this. But Romanova had perfected passive-aggressive under the master, Phillip Coulson. Apparently she was still upset over the assignment as Tony Stark's personal assistant even after she'd gotten to stab Stark with a needle. "And what caused this?"

"She's the only woman you spend considerable time with. General consensus is you wouldn't marry a civilian... And Hill sat at your step-son's side in the hospital until he woke up."

ooo

"So the latest rumor is-"

"For the love of fuck, Romanoff! Don't you have _anything better to do_ than listen to rumors and waste my time repeating them?"

The redhead paused, then looked slightly contrite. "I'm sorry, sir. I keep thinking about Barton." Were those tears? "I think I've been copying his mannerisms as a means of coping."

She. Was. Not. "Wait, Romanoff." Fury called gruffly, to stop her from leaving his office crying. "I realize the situation is difficult for you." Trying to emotionally blackmail him. The hell that would work on him. She should know better. "So feel free to convince everyone I made you cry. But be warned, I will retaliate by informing the Psych Department that you randomly burst into tears into my office. I'd hate to have to remove you from this mission because they benched you. So drop the goddamn act.."

"Yes, sir." And the crying miraculously stopped.

Fury was tempted to dismiss her. Anything else would probably be seen as weakness. But as far as revenge for Stark-babysitting went, listening to a few disturbing rumors was rather tame. (Coulson had done far worse.) So he should probably let her get away with it for a little longer (until they got Barton back). And hope he didn't regret it too much. "What do the rumors say _now_?"

Romanova perked up again, like Barton did when he was pulling pranks. "So word got out that Evans' scar lit up under the Gamma Radiation Reader, and about how Evans said his father was a scientist who'd been fiddling with gamma radiation and how it exploded in his face."

Fury knew where this was going. "They think Dr. Banner is his _father_?"

"Yes, sir." Romanova replied chirpily. Romanova-as-Barton was disturbing. Hopefully it'd stop when they got Barton back. If Barton copied her and became Barton-as-Romanova, he was going to shoot them both. And Coulson for good measure. "The records of the Hulk's creation even indicate that a civilian breached containment and that Banner went in to rescue him.

"It also explains how he survived poking at the Tesseract and having the building dropped on him. He has Hulk's indestructability, even if he doesn't actually transform."

Some of the smartest people he knew were also some of the dumbest. That, or Romanova was just making shit up now. Which he wouldn't put past her. Fury would simply inform Agent Hill of the rumors about her love life. That should put a stop to all this bullshit.

ooo

He had clearly underestimated his opponents, Fury fumed as Romanova skipped _skipped_ into his office to apprise him of the latest rumors. Agent Hill had put forth a valiant effort. All of the main gossips in S.H.I.E.L.D. flinched whenever they saw her. So did most of the other agents, for that matter.

According to Romanova, Hill's threats hadn't actually changed anyone's mind. Fury, Hill, Evans, and Banner were still part of some (completely fictional) messed-up secret family tree. And Hill's vehement protests were _clearly_ made because she was _worried_ about her son's safety if he was associated with his step-father or father. And Fury himself was concerned that Banner would steal his step-son away, because apparently, Banner didn't remember he had a son.

Because, you know, he _didn't have one_. This was ridiculous!

Romanova was smart enough to see herself out. Because while Fury wouldn't shoot the messenger, he had no qualms about yelling at them and assigning them nasty missions. It would be difficult to find something worse than babysitting Stark. But not impossible. Oh no, not impossible.


End file.
